Retired General: Drones Create More Terrorists Than They Kill, Iraq War Helped Create ISIS

[n2doc]

Retired Army Gen. Mike Flynn, a top intelligence official in the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, says in a forthcoming interview on Al Jazeera English that the drone war is creating more terrorists than it is killing. He also asserts that the U.S. invasion of Iraq helped create the Islamic State and that U.S. soldiers involved in torturing detainees need to be held legally accountable for their actions.

Flynn, who in 2014 was forced out as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has in recent months become an outspoken critic of the Obama administration’s Middle East strategy, calling for a more hawkish approach to the Islamic State and Iran.

But his enthusiasm for the application of force doesn’t extend to the use of drones. In the interview with Al Jazeera presenter Mehdi Hasan, set to air July 31, the former three star general says: “When you drop a bomb from a drone … you are going to cause more damage than you are going to cause good.” Pressed by Hasan as to whether drone strikes are creating more terrorists than they kill, Flynn says, “I don’t disagree with that.” He describes the present approach of drone warfare as “a failed strategy.”

“What we have is this continued investment in conflict,” the retired general says. “The more weapons we give, the more bombs we drop, that just … fuels the conflict.”

more

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/16/retired-general-drones-create-terrorists-kill-iraq-war-helped-create-isis/

[ladjf]

1. Just as the invasion of IRaq created more threats to the U.S. The Iraqi's hatred toward the U.S.

will continue for many generations of people.

[Scuba]

2. Well, duh.

[MisterP]

7. half the warwks work for companies profiting from chaos,

the other half genuinely believes AQ/ISIS has only 3 or 6 months to go

[Doctor_J]

9. And the other half think it must be OK

since Obama would never do anything wrong.

[MisterP]

10. well, I meant the analysts--but a good chunk of our party's been taken over by people

who think that *creating ISIS and handing Honduras over to Miguel Facusse is OK* because complaining might remind voters that she did do so and they won't vote for her--and we can't have that, now can we!

and then there's that whole "we are STRONG, PROUD DEMOCRATS and you will NOT silence us!" after they've been mobbing people off the board and screaming in people's faces for 15 years now--in 2001 it was "America has too much democracy," in '02 it was "the Dems have to vote to invade Iraq or they'll all lose," and you know the rest

[Half-Century Man]

3. My take on Drones

They make matters worse exponentially. Horrible situations are magnified by powers of ten in intensity. Here are some reasons why.

1) They deny basic universal human dignity. What in real life is fire and pain on one end, is a video game on the other. Those of us who see actual human lives as game icons are sociopaths.
2) They are cowardly. If we as Americans, are so driven by need to kill some non-American somewhere else, we should risk one of our own. We bomb from nearly undetectable aircraft as it is. Every society subject to our policy of indirect mass slaughter is convinced we afraid to confront them directly.
3) They are seen as tools of elitists. This is warfare waged by money; it transcends justice, freedom, democracy, self determination, sovereignty, humanity, and morality. Most people honor Justice, freedom, democracy, self determination, etc. People perceived as honorable are more admired than people seen as arrogant and greedy.


We could decimate the ranks of Isis/Isil today. Remove a huge portion of their justification of existence.

Prosecute American war criminals in international courts.
Stop using Drones as killing devices.
Stop using murder as a tool of diplomacy.
Stop acting like the propaganda we spread about the USSR and the KGB.

[snagglepuss]

4. So a general critical of drone policy got forced out. Are generals supposed

to be yes men? That is a serious question not sarcasm.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. Well, yes. Pretty much.

In the service, you're not supposed to criticize the President or foreign policy (at least not publicly). It's in the UCMJ.

[Martin Eden]

6. "calling for a more hawkish approach to the Islamic State and Iran"

He calls the invasion of Iraq a mistake, but advocates sending more US special ops forces there now.

The application of US military force helped create ISIS, and now it's the solution?

What happens afterwards?

[Doctor_J]

8. Interesting on DU

Operation Iraq Liberation - bad; drone murder - good

This is what happens when you have a crush instead of principles.